My review this week is on Star Wars: Empire at War, a game that I've played and had much fun with.

Star Wars: Empire at War is a real time strategy game made in 2006 and is set in between episodes III and IV, focusing on the fight between the Rebellion and the Galactic Empire. It was the first game to be made by the company Petroglyph (Petroglyph also made an expansion to Empire at war called Forces of Corruption. I will talk about that later in this review).

There are three game modes to this game: galactic conquest, the campaign, and skirmish battles.

In galactic conquest, your goal is to either take over all the planets in the galaxy, kill the enemy's leader (Emperor Palpatine or Monmothma), or protect or destroy the Death Star depending on which faction you're playing. There are a variety of galactic conquest options, which differ in the number of planets in the galaxy. The maximum amount of planets you can have is 45. You can build buildings on the land of your planets and space a station which you can upgrade in your planets' local space. In addition to that you can support your planets with additional forces. Grand strategy, production, and movement of units from one place to another takes place on the galactic map. You gain resources from the planets you control to build structures, space stations, and units in the form of credits for each day that passes by. You can boost your credit income by building mining facilities on your planets. Other buildings you can build include barracks, light factories, heavy factories and advanced factories (Empire only).

When your units are moved into land or space territory that is controlled by the enemy, a tactical battle is initiated. You may choose whether to auto resolve the battle, which I don't recommend, in which case the battles is resolved for you and the winner is decided by the computer, or you can choose to battle, and the tactical battle begins.

The goal in a tactical battle is usually to obliderate all enemy forces. There is a fog of war that covers the entire map except for where your units and sensor nodes (I'll explain how to get those later) are, so you gotta search for the enemy. Some units have the ability to clear part or all of the fog of war. You can bring as many units as you want if you're invading a territory, but you can only use as many at one time as the population cap allows, while the others are retained as reinforcements. If you're the defender you have however many units there were at that planet the last time you did anything with it, but you have a barracks or vehicle factory/space station as well, those will automatically spawn garrison units which don't count towards the population cap. In space battles the population cap is a fixed number. In land battles capturing reinforcement points on the battlefield raises the population cap, allowing you to bring in additional forces. Another thing that is strictly for land battles is bombing runs. If you have a Tie bomber or
Y-wing squadron in the space of the planet you're invading, you can call for a bombing run, in which three Y-wings/Tie bombers go across the map in a straight line, hitting one specific spot with a load of bombs. These bombers can be targeted by anti-air turrets (those are built on build pads), so it helps to be wary of those. In both land and space battles, there are build pads spread accross the map, which can be used to build a variety of turrets, repair stations (vehicle healers), bacta tanks (infantry healers), and sensor nodes, which lift up a goodly portion of the fog of war around them.

In campaign mode, you choose either the Rebellion or the Empire, and play through a story of missions and goals. The goal of tactical battles in this mode is not always to obliterate all enemy forces. You still need to take over planets though.

Skirmish mode is the classic RTS experience. In skirmish mode there is no galactic map, and one big battle takes place. There are a bunch of maps to choose from with different environments. There is also a map editor that you can use to make your own maps with. I used it to make a map called Gilligan's Island, which is exactly what the name implies: an island full of trees and a rancor cave, but I don't remember if I got the rancor to attack nearby units. You begin the game with a full base and a couple squads of infantry. You have a continuous stream of credits at your disposal, and you can make the credits come faster by capturing resource pads and abandoned mining facilities on the map (something you can also do in galactic or campaign mode, except that there aren't resource pads in that mode). The goal can be to either wipe out the opponent, wipe out the opponent's base, or wipe out the opponent's command center.

Units can be purchased on planets depending on the structures on that planet. A barracks produces infantry, a vehicle factory produces vehicles, and so on. Units have special abilities that can be used whenever, but they all need time to recharge. Here are some of the units you see in Empire at War

THE REBELLION

The Rebellion plays it safe, being smart instead of strong. A special thing they can do is raid the land of planets with a few units that completely bypass the space of the planet.

Here are some Rebel units.

SPACE UNITS

1. X-Wing
The X-wing is a fighter suited to dogfighting. It is strong against other fighters.
Special-lock s-foils: increases speed but decreases firepower.

2. Corellian Gunship
These small cruisers are used to fend off fighter attacks with laser cannons and to pummel other small cruisers and larger vessels.
Special-boost shield strength: increases shield strength but decreases firepower.

3. Alliance Assault Frigate
These starships are used to take down larger destroyers and gunships.
Special-boost shield strength: increases shield strength but decreases firepower.

4. Mon Calmari Cruiser
These heavy-duty cruisers are the most powerful Rebellion starships, and they make short work of gunships and destroyers. They can only be built if you control Sullust, Fondor, Kuat, or Mon Calmari.
Special-boost shield strength: increases shield strength but decreases firepower.

LAND UNITS

1. Rebel Soldiers
Rebel soldiers are great for fighting other infantry.
Special-take cover: soldiers take less damage but move slower.

2. Plex-Troopers
These rocket-equipped men are the perfect counter for vehicles.
Special-take cover: soldiers take less damage but move slower.

3. T-47 Air Speeder
These air speeders were weaponized by the Rebellion to perform as attack speeders, strafing the ground with their dual blaster cannons, and use their tow cables to trip AT-ATs.
Special-tow cable attack: perform a tow cable attack on an AT-AT.

4. T-4B Heavy Tank
The Rebel's heaviest land unit, this take can switch between laser cannons to take down infantry and rockets to pummel vehicles and structures.
Special-swap weapons: switches between laser cannons and rockets.

LEADER OF THE REBELLION

Mon Mothma
Mon Mothma doesn't ever fight on the battlefield, but she increases the moral of the army.
Special 1-boost overall defense of units.
Special 2-reduces the production costs by 25% at her location.

EMPIRE

The empire relies on brute force to win battles, bringing in loads of tie fighters and bombers and ships. On the ground they have dozens of AT-ATs and other walkers. Something special they can do is destroy planets with the Death Star.

Here are some imperial units.

SPACE UNITS

1. Tie Fighter
Tie fighters are strong against other fighters when in overwhelming numbers.
Special-hunt for enemies: automatically seek out and destroy enemies.

2. Tartan Patrol Cruisers
These little cruisers are very effective against fighters and can boost their weapons to do more damage.
Special-boost weapon power: increases firepower but decreases speed and shield power.

3. Intredictor-Class Star Destroyer
This medium-sized star destroyer's main purpose is to prevent enemy forces from retreating.
Special 1-gravity well generator: prevents enemies from retreating from a battle.
Special 2-missile-jamming field: jams nearby enemy missiles.

4. Imperial Star Destroyer
This large behemoth rips apart smaller vessels and can hold ships in their place to prevent them from moving. They can only be built if you control Sullust, Fondor, Kuat, or Mon Calmari.
Special-tractor beam: causes an enemy unit to slow down or stop.

LAND UNITS

1. Storm Troopers
Storm trooper squads are very good against other infantry, especially plex soldiers.
Special-take cover: soldiers take less damage but move slower.

2. Scout Troopers
Scout troopers are mounted on speeder bikes, enabling them to move quickly from one location to another.
Special-thermal detonator: places a thermal detonator on the ground, damaging nearby units.

3. AT-ST (All Terrain Scout Transport)
These small walkers are used to destroy infantry and light vehicles. They are nicknamed "chicken walkers." for their thin legs.
Special-barrage area: fires a barrage of laser fire at a targeted area.

4. AT-AT (All Terrain Armored Transport)
These huge four-legged walkers are very tough and do a lot of damage to infantry and vehicles alike. One of their key weaknesses is exploited by airspeeder cable attacks
Special-deploy stormtroopers: deploys a squad of stormtroopers from the belly of the walker.

LEADER OF THE EMPIRE

Emperor Palpatine
The emperor is a dangerous force to be reckoned with. He can use either his lightsaber or his force lightning in battle.
Special 1-force lightning: kills large amounts of infantry at a time.
Special 2-force corrupt: converts enemy units to the Imperial faction.
Special 3-reduces the production costs by 25% at his location.

Petroglyph also made an expansion for Star Wars: Empire at War called Forces of Corruption. It introduces a whole new faction called the Zann Consortium, in addition to a few new components to the game, and new units for the Empire and the Rebellion. There are also more planets added to the galaxy, adding up to a number of about 55. A special thing the Consortium can do is corrupt worlds controlled by the enemy by using defilers.

Here are some of the Consortium's units. One nifty thing about them is that they don't start with any special abilities. You have to buy their abilities at the black market, which is a type of corruption when corrupting an enemy planet.

ZANN CONSORTIUM

SPACE UNITS

1. Star Viper Fighter
These fighters are very useful against fighters grouped in one area, as their buzz droits can destroy them more quickly that way.
Special-buzz droids: deploys a swarm of buzz droids in targeted area, damaging nearby units.

2. Crusader-Class Corvette
These cruisers are the perfect counter for fighters and missiles and torpedoes due to their point defense mechanisms.
Special-point defense system: automatically targets torpedoes and missiles and destroys them.

3. Vengeance-Class Frigate
The Vengeance-class frigates are armed with mass driver cannons that bypass shields. They themselves have no shields, but possess the capability to cloak.
Special 1-cloak: makes frigate invisible to the enemy and enemy radar.
Special 2-self-destruct: frigate self-destructs, damaging all enemy units around it.

4. Aggressor-Class Destroyer
These large ships have two large cannons: one releases a large ion blast, disabling shields, and the other is a large laser blast, doing tremendous damage.
Special-self-destruct: destroyer self-destructs, damaging all enemy units around it.

LAND UNITS

1. Mercenary Assault Squad
Mercenary assault squads are very effective against infantry and vehicles, because they're armed with disruptor rifles that do tremendous damage.
Special-stimpacks: soldiers move faster and do moe damage but slowly lose health.

2. Defiler
Defilers are the way the Consortium spreads corruption to other planets. They are armed with sniper rifles and deadly explosives which are very effective against pretty much anything.
Special 1-remote explosives (land): the defiler can throw them onto a unit or on the ground, but when placed on the ground, enemies can clear them by shooting at them. The defiler can detonate the explosive at any time.
Special 2-spread corruption (galactic): the defiler can be placed in the spread corruption slot at an enemy planet to corrupt the world.

3. Missile Attack Launcher (MAL)
These light tanks are the perfect counter for infantry and light vehicles because of the barrages of rockets they release when inflict much damage upon them.
Special 1-deploy/undeploy: deploys the MAL so it can fire missiles, or if already deployed, undeploys it.
Special 2-weapons swap: swaps between normal concussion missiles and carbonite missiles that slow units down in addition to damaging them.

4. Canderous Assault Tank
These heavy tanks are armed with mass driver cannons that bypass shields, making them very effective against infantry and light vehicles. They can also draw the fire of enemy units.
Special-confuse systems: confuses enemy targeting systems into directing fire at the tank.

LEADER OF THE CONSORTIUM

Tyber Zann (Merciless)
Tyber Zann is a very dangerous foe despite being just one person. He carries a laser shotgun which he uses to decimate entire squads of infantry in one shot, and fights with his flagship, the Merciless, which is a modified Agressor-class destroyer, in space.
Special 1-blast (space): the Merciless fires a large blast from her front cannon, doing much more damage than normal.
Special 2-bribe (land): uses some of your credits to bribe enemies to fight for you.
Special 3-cloak (land and space): Tyber or the Merciless becomes invisible to the enemy and enemy radar.
Special 4-purchase black market technology (galactic): Tyber can purchase black market technology on the galactic map.

I did not describe all of these games as it would've taken much longer to write. I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan, so that makes this game more fun for me. People who aren't Star Wars fans, though, probably wouldn't like the repetition of tactical battles.

Yeah Im Using My Ipod So Detail Takes Ages
But Also Thank's Scott For Reading And Supporting This Club!_________________Im different, but that dosen't mean im not included.
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